Cultural Competence | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Spotlighting Santé Israel’s Community Resilience Work

Santé Israel, which was founded by JICC in 2015, assists French speakers to navigate the Israeli healthcare system. With about 30,000 French speakers in Israel, and many more from French speaking countries, Santé receives approximately 1,500 calls for assistance each year. In recent years the project has partnered with Qualita, a local organization that aims to aid French immigrants to Israel.

During Shavuot, Santé Israel – together with the Director of the Jerusalem Municipality and Qualita’s Office for French-Speaking Immigrants’ Rights Realization, Ayala Blum – hosted a brunch for our dedicated teams of volunteers. Attendees enjoyed bread, a cheese tart, and homemade couscous, among other treats! The group learned about the various challenges facing French speakers, such as taxes, health rights, elderly rights, and social security benefits.

This was an opportunity for Santé Israel to expand its community reach in making the Israeli healthcare system more accessible to French-speaking immigrants.

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their continued support of Santé Israël over the years.

nadine2022-08-02T08:41:01+00:00August 2nd, 2022|Blog, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

Important Health Updates from Santé Israel and our partners at Qualita

During May 2022 Santé Israel, together with the Jerusalem Municipality and Qualita, held an informative conversation regarding dependency insurance, travel restrictions and masks mandate on international flights, and medical translations. The conversation was between Ayala Blum (Director of the Jerusalem Municipality and Qualita’s Office for French-Speaking Immigrants’ Rights Realization), Marie Avigad from Santé Israel, and moderated by independent journalist, Cathy Choukroun (of Studio Qualita).

To learn more about Santé Israel’s offerings ranging from translating the Israeli health system into French and offering a public hotline to guide and refer French-speakers to relevant services, see the following links (in French):

https://www.sante.org.il/couvertures-des-caisses/

https://www.sante.org.il/coronavirus-voyages-en-avion/#vers

https://www.sante.org.il/preparer-sa-visite-chez-le-medecin/

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their continued support of Santé Israël over the years.

nadine2022-08-02T08:46:24+00:00May 22nd, 2022|Blog, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

Santé Israël – Continuing Awareness-Raising on Health Rights After Covid-19

Santé Israël has finally returned to face-to-face information evenings after a long period of COVID-19 gathering restrictions. Alya de Groupe – an organization that accompanies French citizens in their Aliyah process, coordinates a visit to Israel, and plans lectures for them on various subjects – invited Marie Avigad, director of Santé Israël, to give a lecture on the Israeli health system.

On March 7, 2022, Marie Avigad explained to a group of about 50 people at Qualita offices in Jerusalem, about the health system in Israel. Her workshop focused on common challenges faced by new immigrants, the similarities and differences from the French health system, how to navigate the system and fully access health rights. Marie also referred them to the Santé Israël website, where more information can be found in French.

Raising awareness about health care rights

The participants showed great interest in the lecture, which lasted more than an hour and a half as a result of the numerous questions they had. The questions were mainly about choosing their HMO, supplementary health insurance, nursing insurance, emergency medical centers, and more. They were very pleased to receive critical information and answers, and learn about Santé Israël website along with the fact that Marie is available to assist with any questions that they may have in the future.

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their continued support of Santé Israël over the years.

nadine2022-04-11T09:00:21+00:00March 7th, 2022|Blog, Cultural Competence, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

Cultural Competency in the Courts

We’ve written here, here, here and here about our cultural competency workshops in different places of employment, and its importance in fostering a more culturally sensitive workplace environment.

Beginning on October 28, 2021 we started working with the courts, with judges in the juvenile court system.

Judges from the juvenile courts learning about cultural competency

We held a workshop for 40 judges, and JICC Cultural Competency Desk Director Orna Shani-Golan came away extremely enthused. Here is her account of the meeting, as she wrote on Facebook:

Honestly – I was really excited,
I’ve given lots (don’t know how many) lectures on cultural competence for a lot of organizations and in front of a lot of audiences. But this was the first time I’ve had a chance to lecture to judges. When it comes to delivering cultural competence workshops to different audiences, I make sure I know the organizational language that cultural competency needs to fit into and assimilate into – so I speak the organizational language of healthcare pretty well, I’m fluent in the organizational language of social workers; I have a working knowledge of police organizational language, inclusion and diveristy in business. But the organizational language of the judicial system, not yet. Add to that the pressure of being the opening lecture of a day-long seminar.

Cultural Competency Desk Director Orna Shani-Golan excited for the workshop

It was not simple bringing all the knowledge we accumulated at The Jerusalem Intercultural Center and precisely adapt the messaging so that it would be relevant to a courtroom in the Juvenile Court and the Family Court.

But one of the things I love so much about cultural competence – that it’s always true, and that one can learn from one organization’s experience and adapt them to other places – and that’s what I and about 40 judges did – a journey of an hour and a half between test cases and tailored tools, that stimulated thought and inspiration.

Thank you to the administration of the courts and the president of the juvenile courts, for the opportunity to introduce the knowledge, awareness and tools to the judges (who were amazing). As the saying goes, “There are judges in Jerusalem.”

And here’s Orna’s original Facebook post in Hebrew:

Exciting indeed!

Naomi Roff2021-12-21T07:27:07+00:00November 7th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Government Institutions|

Cultural Competency in Healthcare Organizations – with Israeli Forum for Diversity in Employment

“Never say ‘Diversity’ without the word ‘Inclusion’ immediately following; that is the only way employees from diverse communities can be integral parts of the organization – members of the ‘family’ and not just ‘guests’.”

Continuing to improve employment diversity

That is how our first session in a series of cultural competency workshops, which was held in partnership with the Israeli Forum for Employment Diversity, started, on October 25. It was the first of a series.

A few principles of employment diversity in healthcare organizations

The first workshops dealt with cultural competency in healthcare organizations, which was facilitated by our own Dr. Rachely Ashwal. The first part of the workshop was led by special guest Malki Rotner, Director of the Israeli Forum for Employment Diversity.

Stay tuned for more.

Here’s the original Facebook post in Hebrew:

Naomi Roff2021-12-21T07:28:04+00:00November 1st, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Cultural Competence in the Workplace|

Continuing Cultural Competency Training with Sapir College Staff

We’ve written here and here about our activities in cultural competency in academia, and here about our work with Sapir College. In early October, 2021, we held another session about teaching remotely and in a culturally senistive manner. The session focused on the the challenges resulting from Covid-19 and its implications, including remote study, which added to the complexity of teaching in a culturally competent manner.

More about teaching culturally competently

Online conference of Cultural Competence and Diversity in Online Teaching

We were invited by the Coordinator of the Israeli Hope initiative at Sapir College to lecture on “Cultural Competence and Diversity in Online Teaching”, at a digital learning conference held by the Unit for Advancing Teaching and Learning.

Discussing different issues, including ‘camera on – camera off’ during Zoom classes

Dr. Hagai Agmon-Snir, JICC’s founding director and a lecturer at Bar Ilan University on multicultural and culturally competent community development, led a discussion on teaching online classes to a culturally diverse class, on the difference between inter-generational and age-based gaps, on open and closed cameras during Zoom meetings, and also about lecturers’ frustrations and thoughts about how to stay interesting enough and relevant enough for their millennial students.

This year, too, we will continue to advance cultural competence in academia, in collaboration with coordinators of the Israeli Hope in Academia initiative. Stay tuned for more updates.

And here’s the Facebook post of Orna Shani Golan, Director of our Cultural Competency Desk:

Naomi Roff2021-12-21T07:22:23+00:00October 15th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions|

Simplifying Language – A Principle of Cultural Competency

A main principle of Cultural Competency is making services accessible to all. This includes adapting language to increase understanding. This could mean translation into different languages used – or simplifying the language used.

Keeping calm – and keeping it simple

On July 29, the JICC’s Cultural Competency Desk held a Language Simplification workshop online for cultural competency coordinators from healthcare and welfare institutions.

Dr. MIchal Schuster, on simplifying language

Dr. Michal Schuster led the fascinating meeting, which practiced with the participants important basics of simplifying language during meetings between therapists and patients from different identity groups.

Here’s a Facebook post from Cultural Competency desk’s Dr. Rachely Ashwal:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its ongoing support of cultural competency in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2021-09-24T14:34:56+00:00August 15th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Government Institutions, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Dealing with Social and Political Tensions at the Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem

The tension from the recent Guardian of the Walls operation did not go unnoticed at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem. Guided by the principles of cultural competency, half of the museum’s instructors are Jewish, and half are Palestinian. The instruction team knows how to adapt the content to the various audiences that visit it – secular, religious, and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jews and Arabs, Israelis and tourists, and the museum’s exhibits contain information in three languages - Hebrew, Arabic and English.

The intercultural encounter at the museum invites quite a few conflicts and challenges for instructors – including social and political tensions. For example one instructor described a discussion with ultra-Orthodox students about an exhibit that describes a different perception of the length of existence of the world than that which the ultra-Orthodox students hold. During the operation, Palestinian instructors described their fear of going to the Museum, located in central Jerusalem, and groups’ fear of coming into the western part of the city. There were also numerous cancellations, or demands such as one school principal’s request that there be no Jewish groups at the Museum during their visit. There were instructors who wear a Hijab, who felt that Jews did not want to receive instruction from them because they were Muslim. Or Jewish and Muslim groups who called out racist chants to before entering the museum. These issues and challenges were difficult for instructors to deal with without appropriate tools.

Diverse staff – talking about Diversity

At the beginning of July we met with a group of museum guides – Jews and Palestinians, Hebrew and Arabic-speakers, for a two-session workshop. The guides acquired tools for dealing with intercultural group encounters, effective dialogue that helps each side to ‘see’ the other, and how to conduct a dialogue in socially or politically charged situations. Together with Orna Shani Golan, Director of the Cultural Competency Desk, the instructors developed responses for how to deal with groups conflict between groups, based on political or religious differences.

This is just the beginning of cultural competency work with the staff of the Science Museum. A future workshop is planned as part of the new instructor training, and additional work will be done with with instructors who teach classes to mixed groups of Jewish and Palestinian children, to ensure that the program is culturally competent.

orna2021-08-22T06:26:16+00:00July 20th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence|

Cultural Competency for On-Call Emergency Welfare Workers

What do you do when there’s an emergency late at night that requires welfare services? This is exactly what the on-call workers of the Jerusalem Municipality’s Welfare Department are for. The on-call workers, who are all social workers, respond to a multitude of incidents, including: delivering difficult news, domestic violence cases, treating youth who have run away, and answering emergency telephone calls on various issues. About 150 on-call workers took part in cultural competency workshops via Zoom – some 100 on-call workers (in three workshops at the end of June) who work in West Jerusalem, and another about 50 workers who provide services in East Jerusalem, in a special workshop which took place on July 8 delivered in Arabic for drives of the east of the city (on 8.7.21).

workshop for west Jerusalem on call workers

Workshop for on-call workers

During the workshops participants raised inter-cultural challenges they faced when they’re on-call, which is different than their everyday work – lack of familiarity with the callers and their cultural characteristics; the rapid transitioning between the vastly different cultures and backgrounds of callers; the sometimes-opposing approaches between welfare and community services; dealing with callers’ sometimes first encounters with welfare services; the objections that arise on the background of cultural perceptions versus the authority of the social worker to carry out legal orders, and more.

One on-call worker told that she had to inform an ultra-Orthodox family about the mother’s death on Friday afternoon, right before the Sabbath. She was surprised with the family’s preoccupation with burying the mother as quickly as possible, and that they weren’t open to her attempts at grief support. Another on-call worker recounted the time that she tried to move an elderly man living in unfit conditions to a shelter, and how there was significant opposition from the family.

Participants were given tools to enable them to have a culturally competent and effective encounter: to think before the encounter what cultural sensitivities they may encounter and what is the effective response to those sensitivities and tools for deepening intercultural dialogue that helps facilitate effective and sensitive care.

Two questions – helping social workers be culturally competent

This is the first workshop we’ve led for on-call workers. We hope that future workshops will preserve and strengthen this knowledge and skills.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their ongoing support of Cultural Competence in Jerusalem!

orna2021-08-02T13:40:56+00:00July 15th, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Jerusalem Municipality|

Cultural Competency in the English Department

We’ve written before about cultural competence in academia (here and here, for example). On 21.6.21 we traveled as far as Sapir College in the south for a second meeting (the first took place on Zoom) about cultural competence in teaching.

Cultural competence in academic teaching workshop

The lecturers, who teach English in diverse classes, deal with cultural gaps in teaching on a daily basis, and were very interested in what can be done to bridge those gaps. Many of their students come from the Bedouin sector; for a lecturer born in the US, these gaps seems insurmountable.

During the meeting, the lecturers raised different incidents they’d encountered – entire groups that turn off their cameras during Zoom classes, copying as characterized by different groups, not doing homework, and and more.

Practicing cultural education

The lecturers also spoke about their experience of teaching under tension – such as during Operation Guardian of the Walls this past May. One lecturer shared that while teaching a class via Zoom the virtual background of one of the students showed a map of Israel with a keffiyeh. The lecturer did not know how to deal with the situation – should they say something or not? We discussed the issue in the meeting, and practiced how to use the model of effective dialogue model and tools for dealing with social and political tensions, which was developed at the Jerusalem Intercultural Center.

Simulation with a professional Actress

In the last part of the workshop we held simulations developed from the incidents shared by the lecturers. Hanin, a professional actress, simulated Muslim students, one was was afraid to make a presentation in front of the whole class, and the other was suspected of copying. The lecturers had an opportunity to use the tools for culturally competent teaching learned during the two workshop sessions.

orna2021-09-11T17:04:39+00:00July 2nd, 2021|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions|